Packaging material



C. Q. lVES PACKAGING MATERIAL ug. l5, 1950 Filed' Feb. '18, 1948 k A IIIIIII 'll...11.11.11......I'l'llrz H TTOR/VE V Patented Aug. 15,1950 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGING MATERIAL |Charles Q. Ives, Reading, Mass.

Application February 18, 1948, Serial No. 9,149

7 Claims.

This invention relates to packaging materials and particularly to material of the nature of double-faced corrugated board of the type commonly used in the manufacture of corrugated cartons. The packaging material of this invention is, unlike normal double-faced corrugated board, flexible and may be readily rolled or folded so as `to| permit its use as a protective wrapping material which will readily conform to the contours of an article being packaged and still provide substantially the full cushion effect inherent in double-faced corrugated board before folding.

So far as I am aware, the invention meets for the first time a long standing trade need for a flexible corrugated packaging material which has al cushion value superior to that of single-faced flexible corrugated paper now on the market, and more nearly equivalent to that present in doublefaced corrugated board.

Double-faced board, because of its inherent rigidity, has not been an acceptable wrapping material where folding or rolling is required. For instance, commercial double-faced corrugated board cannot be smoothly wrapped around a cylindrical bottle. Any attempt to use it for such a purpose causes smashing of the corrugations with destruction of the cushion value of the Wrapping material. Single-faced, as distinguished from double-faced, corrugated board, has thus had to be used for b ottle wrappers with the result that the trade has had to be satisfied with the much inferior cushion Value of single, asV distinguished from double-faced, corrugated paper with consequent greater transportation hazards.

It is thus a primary object of this invention to provide a flexible double-faced corrugated board which may be wrapped around articles ofY any shape, including bottles, books, glassware, pictures, furniture, and give to the packaged article substantially the full protection and cushion value of flat double-faced corrugated board.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for rendering commercial doublefaced corrugated board flexible and without substantialimpairment of the normal cushion value of the board.

Examples of flexible double-faced corrugated board in accordance with this invention are illus-V trated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a section of my Fig. 4 is an end elevation of a modified type of construction; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of a further modification.

Since, in one aspect of the invention, I provide a method for treating commercial double-faced corrugated board to render it flexible, the embodiments of my invention shown in the accom-` panying drawings include certain elements of normal presentday double-faced corrugated board, namely a corrugated paper ply 8 and a plane paper ply l adhesively secured to the cor,- rugated ply on one side thereof, and forming a smooth backing sheet for the board. On the opposite side of the corrugated ply is adhesively fixed a second plane paper ply I2 which, in accordance with this invention, has been segmented to provide a tile-like surface consisting of individual separated frusto-pyramidal segments I4 of the original plane facing ply. Each of the segments remains adhesively affixed to the corrugated ply so that the surface is formed of crisscross rows of said segments'.

The segmentation of the facing ply l2 may be accomplished by cutting through the plane ply along a plurality of substantially parallel lines in one direction and, simultaneously or thereafter, cutting through the plane facing ply l2 along a plurality of substantially parallel lines running in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the first set of lines. Preferably the lines of cuts are respectively parallel and perpendicular to the corrugations, as shown, though for certain uses, they may extend angularly to the eorrugations or to one another, so that the sega ments are of diamond shape.

The cuts may be made either by milling cutters or by abrading through the plane ply l2, but, `in either case, it is preferred that the cutting be angular for a purpose to be hereinafter described. If abrading is resorted to, one may utilize apparatus of the type described and claimed in my prior co-pending application, Serial No. 650,639, filed February 27, 1946, now United States Patent No. 2,503,874 granted April 11, 1950. f

While the cuts may be made along lines variously spaced in accordance with a particular packaging requirement in mind, in a preferred construction as shown in Fig. 2, the lines are spaced apart a distance substantially equivalent to the distance between the corrugations and are located in staggered relation to the corrugations so that the cuts extending in a direction parallel to the corrugations lie substantially midway between the crests VI 6 of the corrugations. Thus', in

A-iiute material, wherein the corrugations are normally 1%" from crest to crest, the lines of cuts will be spaced apart In this case then each segment is floatingly attached along its median line at the crest I6 of a corrugation.

Since wrapping operations often involve folding about a right angle corner, my preferred structure includes segments which have a fruston pyramidal shape so that they tend to form a mitered Ijoint at a right-angle straight-line fold between the rows of segments. This shape is most readily imparted to the segments by so cutting or abrading the material that the lines of cuts are V-shaped in cross-section and preferably forming a 90 angle, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3.

While in the case of Fig. 1, the cuts in the direction of the corrugations may extend wholly rthrough the plane ply l2 and below the plane of the crests of the corrugations, the cuts in a direction perpendicular to the corrugations are preferably controlled so that, where best performance of the material is desired, they do not extend through the corrugated ply S and at most merely dent or nick the crest portions thereof.

In Figs. 4 and 5 there are shown modifications of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 2 and 3 in that the dimensions of the segments relative to the corrugaticns spacing has been changed. In Fig. 4, again the corrugations are those of A-flute spaced W8 apart. However, the lines ofcuts in the direction of the corrugations are now spaced apart double that distance or 1%" so that each segment ida remains attached to two crests i6 of the corrugated ply. As will be understood, the wider spacing of the cuts tends to lessen the flexibility of the sheet particularly when rolled in a diagonal direction. Nevertheless, for many uses this spacing of cuts will suiiice. Preferably, the same spacing is used for the cuts in the perpendicular direction so that the segments Ilia will again be of square outline.

The structure shown in Fig. 5, though similar, is less uniform in that the spacing between the cuts is not a whole multiple of the spacings between the corrugations and, therefore, the cuts fall randomly between and upon the crests, and some of the segments ido are attached to only one crest iii while others are attached to two crests I6.

There has thus been shown a series of structures which illustrate that the segment dimensions may have a denite relation and location relative to the corrugations or may not, and that these variations may occur regardless of whether the structure comprises A-iiute, B-ilute, C-flute or jumbo-Flute, the fundamental principle being to segment one surface of the board and have each segment aflixed to at least one crest.

As indicated by Fig. 1, paperboard of this invention maybe rolled over in diagonal as well as in vlateral and longitudinal directions, where the plane ply l remains on the surface of larger rolled radius, without tearing or smashing the corrugations.

While in the description as previously given, reference has been made to paper, it should be understood that the twoplane plies and corrugated ply may be formed of any suitable sheet material, whether it be fibrous or non-fibrous, and including such materials as thermoplastic films and asbestos.

I claim:

1. Flexible double-faced corrugated board comprising a corrugated ply, an exposed plane ply 4 contacting and adhesively secured to one side of said corrugated ply to form a smooth surface for said corrugated board on said one side of said corrugated ply, and the other surface of said .board being constituted substantially entirely of frusto-pyramidal segments of a plane ply, each of said segments contacting and being individually adhesively secured to a crest of said corrugated ply.

2. kFlexible double-faced corrugated board comprising a corrugated ply, an exposed plane ply contacting and adhesively secured to one side of said corrugated ply and a segmented plane ply adhesively secured on the opposite side of said corrugated ply and constituted of rows lof individual segments contacting and adhered to crests of said corrugated ply and separated from one another by intersecting sets of substantially parallel lines of voids extending downwardly towards said corrugated ply.

3. Flexible double-faced corrugated board as claimed in claim2, wherein the lines of voids in one of said sets are substantially parallel to the corrugations of the corrugated ply, are spaced apart a distance substantially equivalent to a whole multiple of the distance between said corrugations and lie substantially midway between the crests of the corrugations.

4 Flexible double-faced corrugated board as claimed in claim 2, wherein the lines of voids in one of said sets substantially parallel to the ccrrugations of the corrugated ply, are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the distance between said corrugations and lie in staggered relation with the crests of said corrugations.

5. Flexible double-faced corrugated board as claimed in Iclaim 2, wherein the intersecting lines of voids are perpendicular to one another and are spaced apart a distance substantially equivalent to a whole multiple of the distance between the corrugations of the corrugated ply, and the segments are of frustoepyramidal shape with square bases.

6. Flexible double-faced corrugated board as claimed in claim 2, wherein the segments are frusto-pyramidal in shape, 'their side walls inclined at substantially 45 angles to the plane of said board.

'7. Flexible double-faced corrugated board comprising a corrugated ply, an exposed plane ply contacting and vadhesively secured to one side of said corrugated ply and a segmented .plane ply adhesively secured on the opposite side of said corrugated ply and constituted of rows of individual segments contacting and adhered to crests of said corrugated ply'and separated from one another by intersecting sets of substantially parallellines of'V-shaped voids extending downwardly towards said corrugated ply.

CHARLES Q. IVES.

REFERENCES CITED The following .references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. FLEXIBLE DOUBLE-FACED CORRUGATED BOARD COMPRISING A CORRUGATED PLY, AN EXPOSED PLANE PLY CONTACTING AND ADHESIVLEY SECURED TO ONE SIDE OF SAID CORRUGATED PLY TO FORM A SMOOTH SURFACE FOR SAID CORRUGATED BOARD ON SAID ONE SIDE OF SAID CORRUGATED PLY, AND THE OTHER SURFACE OF SAID BOARD BEING CONSTITUTED SUBSTANTIALLY ENTIRELY OF FRUSTO-PYRAMIDAL SEGMENTS OF A PLANE PLY, EACH OF SAID SEGMENTS CONTACTING AND BEING INDIVIDUALLY ADHESIVELY SECURED TO A CREST OF SAID CORRUGATED PLY. 